Give me that old-time ‘base ball’

Players dressed in old-time uniforms play Saturday in the annual Vintage Base Ball Festival in Community Park.

Players dressed in old-time uniforms play Saturday in the annual Vintage Base Ball Festival in Community Park.

Photo: Greg Olson | Journal-Courier

Give me that old-time ‘base ball’

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The game looks familiar, but its terms and rules have changed over the years.

In the 1850s and 1860s, baseball was written as two words, the batter was known as a “striker” and an out was called a “hand out.”

On Saturday, about 30 “base ball” players, or “ballists,” took to a Community Park field to play 1850s-style baseball.

“I’ve been doing this since 2003 when my brother hounded me to come out and play vintage base ball,” said Todd “Pig” Daniels of New Berlin, who organized the Vintage Base Ball Festival Saturday along with Cheri Fry of Jacksonville. Daniels is a member of The Long Nine of Springfield.

Three teams played in the festival — The Long Nine of Springfield, Lafayette Square Cyclone and the Alton Giant.

“I enjoy being able to honor the game of baseball and its history, and to play against other people who feel the same way,” Daniels said.

Daniels and his fellow ballists play about 40 games a summer.

“I play mainly for the gentlemanly aspect of the game,” said Mike “Skillet Hands” Briggs of Springfield. “It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about coming out and enjoying putting on a show for the people.” Briggs joined The Long Nine of Springfield in 2008.

“I love the fact that we are playing a period of baseball that was only in effect for about 18 months,” said Allen “Honest Al” Stare of Jacksonville, who served as umpire for Saturday’s games, or matches, as they used to be called. “We have been playing by those 1858 rules for nearly 30 years.”

Among those early base ball rules were that a player could catch a ball after one bounce and the striker, or batter, would be out; wherever a ball first hit the ground, determined fair or foul; and a runner could not be doubled off base on a caught fly ball, but he had to return to his base.

The Vintage Base Ball Festival has been held on Father’s Day weekend in Community Park since 2005, according to Stare.

Greg Olson can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1224, or on Twitter @JCNews_Greg.